WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU WANT TO TAKE THE PATH LESS TRAVELED?

I remember the day that I sat down with my Mum for a coffee. She had a mint tea, I had an extra strong latte (I felt that the conversation merited a super strong caffeine dosage!) “I think I want to be a writer. I want to be my own boss. To be honest, I can’t imagine working for anyone else.” “Yes. Your Father has been thinking you might want to pursue writing for a while,” came my Mum’s calm reply. My parents have always been really supportive of mine and my sister’s passions, and so her response didn’t really come as a shock. “Now what?” I thought to myself. Such is the way when you want to take the path less traveled in life…

Throughout school, I was a straight A student. Like, I don’t mean this as a brag, because now I’m far from the top of my class in university. But, throughout school, I’d read things just because the teacher suggested that we did, I’d do all the extra, ‘suggested homework’. I worked harder than I ever had before. Well, I guess apart from now…

When I reached university, the lines became a little more blurred. I carried on with internships and jobs and work experience, believing that it would benefit me in the long run… Apart from it didn’t. It didn’t lead to anything tangible. I don’t want to go into it much, but I saw my friends ‘with connections‘ getting internships through family connections and the like. I was told that the very same companies were, in fact, taking on no interns for the period. I was so disheartened. And I started to give up. I want to point out, at this point, that I realize how priviliged I am to have been able to go to university. The point is that I started to become dissapointed in my specific field of focus…

[Tweet “When you work for someone else, you’re working for someone else’s dreams…”]

Now I think about it, I didn’t start to give up at all. Instead, I started to look in other directions. I looked for other paths to reach my goals. At 21, I realized I wouldn’t want to work for anyone else. Never mind the fact that I just couldn’t. The thought of working for someone else longer term than my current retail jobs gave me near panic attacks. I attribute it to making me so stressed that I ended up being referred to a psychologist. I wanted to be my own boss, no matter how difficult the struggle would be. When you’re working for someone else, you’re working for someone else’s dreams. And how am I meant to put in 110% when I’m working towards someone else’s goals? Like, for real, though?

For my entire life, I’d been working towards a career in auctioneering. A career with structure, where someone would tell me the goals for the day. I participated in internships, volunteered in five museums, working multiple jobs etc. etc. To be honest, when I look at my CV from a couple of years ago, I feel exhausted. Like, how did I have so much energy, for starters?

But, what happens when you want to take the path less traveled?

But, instead of looking at all this time as wasted experience, I started focusing on the positives. I’d learned first hand how brand partnerships worked. When you’re taking the path less traveled, you can start to become more than a little disheartened. However, I’d learned why companies were prepared to part with cash for influencers, and why others weren’t. And in that moment, I realized that everything I’d ever done could be utilized for another purpose. Everything I hadn’t done wasn’t a waste. And besides, even if it had been, I’d enjoyed myself in the process.

I may have work experience relevant to my degree, but it’s also useful for life. I’m a complete mish-mash of ideas. I may be an atheist, but I also believe that everything happens for a reason. I’m not meant to live my life, selling sh** for other people. I don’t want to be an auctioneer. I want to make people think, question their own purposes. I want to entertain others. Because, what’s the point in life if we’re just sat there watching it go by? I want to take the path less traveled. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m heading in a better direction that ever before…

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Sophie Nadeau loves dogs, books, Paris, pizza, and history, though not necessarily in that order. A fan of all things France related, she runs solosophie.com when she's not chasing after the next sunset shot or consuming her weight in sweet food. Currently based in Paris after studies in London, she's spent most of her life living in the beautiful Devonian countryside in South West England!

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Sophie Nadeau

Travel Writer & Culture Blogger

Bonjour, ciao, and welcome to my little corner of the internet! For the past five years, I've been writing about the weird and wonderful on this travel and culture blog, with a particular focus on history, hidden gems, and offbeat adventures in Europe and beyond.

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